Information technology (IT) strategic outsourcing request for proposal (RFP) and request for submission (RFS) processes often require that a potential client provide a detailed statement of work (SOW). Typically, the SOW that is submitted will identify service responsibilities on which service delivery organizations (SDOs) are to bid. Each SOW submission generally results in many hours of personnel time being expended toward reading, reviewing, and analyzing the various sections thereof. This analysis work is performed in an effort to further understand the requirements documented in the potential client's SOW and the services being requested.
Traditionally, engagement personnel may read through the documentation and manually record references found within the SOW that are related to SOW scope being requested within the bid submission. Based on these review findings, and through collaboration with other engagement personnel assigned to study the bid submission, recommendations in the engagement would be made. However, processes requiring lengthy periods of detailed manual analyses and reviews of RFS and RFP bid submission documentation only serve to increase the time needed to identify applicable services. This, in turn, creates potential delays in downstream engagement team activities and potentially leads to condensed engagement project time lines.